Prognostic Implications of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Association With Programmed Death Ligand 1 Expression in Early-Stage Breast Cancer

摘要

Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are known to be an important prognostic factor of specific breast cancer subtypes. Among the various regulatory mechanisms, we assessed the associations between programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on tumor cells and TILs in early-stage breast cancer according to the hormone receptor (HR) status. A strong positive correlation was found between CD8+ TILs and forkhead box P3-positive TILs and an inverse relationship between TILs and PD-L1 expression. Only in HR-negative tumors were CD8+ TILs associated with better survival.